Howlite trekked for miles and miles, her sight no longer clouded. It had been weeks since she had regained her vision...how could she not think to see the ruins of her past life? Dramatic as it sounds, Howlite still remembered and stewed over everything she had gone through...she wanted to properly mourn it...The only way to do that was walk through the forest and try to find her escape pod. She figured it would be easy since she was able to navigate with all of her senses very well, but regaining her sight seemed to already weaken her other senses.

Howlite looked to the sky, it was a grey watercolor painting of storm clouds. The leafless branches of trees stretched towards the sky, but to Howlite, they looked like cracks in the image...cracks in reality. It was already beginning to rain, which soon turned to sleet that felt like knives on the skin as the wind blew in howling gusts. Nevertheless, Howlite was determined to find the escape pod.

"Howlite! Howlite!" Sodalite knew exactly what Howlite's plan was...but she hated herself for not figuring it out sooner. No one should have been out with the storm already striking Beach City. Sodalite began to sprint after her friend through the forest, but the storm quickly turned to a freezing whiteout.

Howlite could barely hear Sodalite's voice over the howling wind, but she ignored her and began to sprint, leaping over the trees and roots that she always tripped on before.

"This is all for the greater good." Voices echoed through her head.

"Take care of them for me."

She then remembered when she first met Fire Opal, where she had heard a word that had not been spoken since ancient Gem times when villagers would raise newly emerged Gems and care for them.

"You're a great soldier, Howlite. I figured it would be time to take the next step." A Quartz, Milky Quartz, to be exact, said to Howlite.

"W-What do you mean?" Howlite asked.

"A new breed of Gem was created on AgniKok...White Diamond requests that you train it, teach it your ways and your tactics. With the Gem War becoming imminent, you may not be around forever. You need an heir." Milky Quartz explained.

"An apprentice? I can't do that, it'll get in the way!" Howlite complained.

"It's your Diamond's orders. Besides, it's better than you think. You'll see." Milky Quartz smiled. "White Diamond always has the best ideas, doesn't she?"

Howlite nodded.

She flashed out of her memory. Just a simple recollection of White Diamond's era of kindness was enough to make an old soul like her cry...back when she believed in her Gems' happiness, just a little bit. How sad that in just a few years Homeworld would fade to coldness, inside and out. Cold, mechanical...but some philosophers said that Gems were meant to destroy worlds, to conquer and harvest the universe's resources. Maybe the words of those philosophers is what poisoned everyone's heads to do that in the first place?

Howlite flashed back into her memory. All she saw was a young Fire Opal running up and hugging Howlite with the biggest smile on her face.

"Mother!" Fire Opal cooed with joy.

Howlite gasped. The minute she felt Fire Opal's warm embrace, and her voice graced her ears...she felt a kind surge of tingly happiness...she decided it was empathy. Although unspoken, not even thought of, Howlite kept a promise to keep that small tingly warmth alive, like a small candle in her heart...even if the promise would cause her heart to melt.

Just like a candle.

The wind seemed to blow away Howlite's memory, the sharp sleet acting as a wake-up call. The daydream seemed to pass the time because Howlite was already there. The escape pod, the only relic of her past besides her augmentation. She stood over it, the sky and snow tinting the whole scene in grey. Howlite mourned, crying tears over everything...even worse, her tears caused her eyes to burn.

Stupid augmentation! Can't you at least feel like you're not there? Even for a second? Fire Opal...I...I left her. I left...the one who calls me 'mother'. I left the acolyte at home...how am I supposed to keep warm?

"Howlite! Howlite! There you are!" Sodalite's voice and footsteps interrupted Howlite's thoughts. She turned around, her braid whipping in the wind.

"Sodalite..." Howlite averted Sodalite's gaze as she approached her.

"What are you doing out here in the cold? I was so-" Sodalite asked, grabbing Howlite's soldiers. She stopped talking when she looked over to see the pod. "Oh."

"It was a stupid impulse, we should go home," Howlite said coldly, already beginning to walk away.

"What? No, I refuse to accept that it was an impulse, there has to be a reason you ran all the way out here, not to mention, during a storm as strong as this!" Sodalite shouted.

"Why do you care whether it's an impulse or not? You healed me, or...Rose healed me. You don't have to take care of me anymore, you're just tiring yourself." Howlite said.

"Did you ever think we were friends? I did...so, as your friend, I'm asking you why you came all the way out here to see this beat-up escape pod? I can tell it's been bothering you, so why go see it and just sit there and look at it like a weirdo?" Sodalite argued.

Howlite turned to face Sodalite. "You are my friend, but I'm not going to expect you to get these things."

"Try me! I get it, you're Howlite, you had a prestigious life as a war leader with an apprentice who you saw as a child rather than a friend but it was all taken away by White Diamond and now you're trapped on this so-called miserable mudball with me and Rose, Garnet and the others...who are just horrible, fuse-happy hooligans...I GET IT, YOU HATE IT HERE!" Sodalite explained mockingly until she burst out into a shout, much to the surprise of Howlite.

"That's not what I meant." Howlite stuttered.

"THEN WHAT DID YOU MEAN?" Sodalite yelled. She grabbed Howlite by the star on her shirt. "YOU PUT ON THE STAR, YOU BELIEVE IN WHAT WE BELIEVE. So...why do you miss them so much?"

Howlite clenched her fist. "I don't know...Maybe it's because I hate change, maybe I'm scared, maybe I'm traumatized...I don't know. You have to realize how difficult a transition here is like, purposeful or not." Howlite said. "Do you ever just, miss familiarity? Even if that familiarity was hell, do you still wonder that if maybe you gave it one more chance, that if maybe you took a stand in the old place, maybe you could live better without being trapped in a place you'll never be accepted in?"

Sodalite was stunned. "Is that how you feel?"

"I mean, I guess! Don't you feel strange here? Have you tried talking to humans? Everything is just weird, the culture is weird, the geography is weird, and now my stupid eyes get in the way constantly. I can't even sit on the beach with you without worrying that I'll screw myself up and I'll end up being blind again...permanently. After regaining my vision again, I'm not sure if I want to go back." Howlite said.

The storm seemed to get worse as Sodalite's heart beat faster and faster, as her head swirled with all these words. "Howlite, listen to me. It doesn't matter where we came from, it doesn't matter how we got here or why we got here, it doesn't matter how the humans see us or anything like that. The unknown is beautiful, Howlite. Just like you...I don't know everything about you, and even if I did, you'd dwarf every sunset on the beach. What matters is us, and what we're fighting for. What matters is that we're all in this together, and we'll be together, no matter what. You'll never be alone because you have me, and that's a fact."

Howlite had tears in welling in her eyes, but she closed them so they could trickle down her cold cheeks. She smiled. "I can assure you, you'll never be alone either."

"And hopefully, maybe you'll see Fire Opal again. It's written in the stars." Sodalite said. Right after she spoke those words, the storm cleared with Sodalite's magic. The wind died down, the snow flurries drifted and settled on the ground, and the storm clouds cleared to reveal a beautiful star-filled sky not yet affected by modern air-pollution.

"You know, I may miss her, but I have you. And that's all I need." Howlite replied.

Sodalite and Howlite slowly, almost unconsciously got close, and although Gems didn't produce body heat, there was a warm intimacy between the two. All that they could hear was the movement of the trees, and the pounding of heartbeats in their chests, at least, it felt like heartbeats. Both Gems closed their eyes, and soon all they could feel was the light brushing of noses on their cheeks and the rubbing of cold, chapped lips. They wrapped their arms around each other but slightly pulled apart once the moment was over. Sodalite and Howlite looked at each other, seeming stunned at what they just did, but of course, they both meant it. They meant it with all their hearts. Howlite saw it as a way of letting go, that maybe Sodalite was more than a caretaker or a friend or a fellow soldier. She had no idea that a relationship beyond those boundaries existed, but as Sodalite said, the unknown was beautiful, and she wanted to think about and explore it forever.

And that was the story of Howlite and Sodalite's first kiss.

I know love will find a way, anywhere I go,
I'm home if you are there beside me,

Like dark, turning into day,
Somehow we'll come through,
Now that I've found you,
Love will find a way...

-Lion King II

Meh, felt like it fit.

Fun fact about me that may not be surprising: I'm a procrastinator. I procrastinate so much, that I work on shorts instead of what I'm supposed to be working on. I've written a few shorts, most of them inspired by music I could be currently listening to. These shorts include the chapter Casual Dreams, this one, and a High School AU that I'm not sure when I want to post. Probably at the end of the story near the credits (Yes, I'm doing credits), but whenever you guys want to see it, let me know.

I love writing romance, especially with these two, although I've never experienced it. I just like writing these little Disney-esque scenes like this, and Sodalite and Howlite have a very interesting dynamic that I think would make a great Disney movie if I got to make an original story out of them (Without the Steven Universe mixed in, of course.) I also put this short after the last chapter to give insight to how Howlite sees Fire Opal and how Fire Opal sees Howlite. It's definitely more maternal than anything else.

How did everyone like this short?